It's just, 'Where do we go from here?' Good lives can be lived from here on out to honor Cody. – Jamie Towse
SALEM, Utah County — One of the last blog posts Pvt. 1st Class Cody Towse, now Spc. Towse, made in December included a quote from Winnie the Pooh: "If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart I'll stay there forever."
In his post, Towse said he wanted his family and friends to know he loved and appreciated them.
"I just wish I'd told them more often," Towse wrote. "Not that I plan on dying, because I can totally just tell them later, but that's just something that I've been thinking about lately."
Flags lined both sides of the street as the procession made its way from Salem Hills High School to the Salem City Cemetery on Saturday. The casket carrying Towse was moved from the hearse to an Army medic vehicle and driven to the plot.
Bagpipes played, his father wore an Army cap and a Winnie the Pooh pin, and his mother cradled the flag that had been draped across her son's coffin. One of his younger brothers and sister embraced next to the grave.
Towse's family supported each other throughout the funeral with embraces, a squeeze of the arm or a loving pat. Hundreds of friends and family tearfully gathered to celebrate his life and sacrifice.
Towse was killed in Afghanistan on May 14. The Elk Ridge, Utah County, medic had been treating one of his Army brothers injured in an explosion when a second explosion killed him.
Towse was honored with a 21-gun salute after two Black Hawks flew over the grave site. A LifeFlight helicopter also flew overhead. It had been one of Towse's aspirations to become a LifeFlight medic.
Towse had been a volunteer firefighter and EMT for Elk Ridge. His captain and supervisor, Shawn Loree, made a final, ceremonial call for Towse to dispatch at the grave site Saturday.
When the reply failed, nothing was heard but sobs and sniffs until mourners joined in an impromptu chorus of "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful."
Jamie Towse said she never asked why her son was killed.
"It's just, 'Where do we go from here?' " she said. "Good lives can be lived from here on out to honor Cody."
During the funeral, Jamie Towse spoke of her faith and her gratitude toward her church and "to her boys in Afghanistan."
She said she prays for the soldiers who are currently serving, considering them now part of her family. She said Cody would have been amazed at the support shown and that she knows he's thinking of his Army brothers now.
"They're really close to my heart," she said. "Maybe it's (Cody) that's helping me feel this way for his brothers. We're so proud of them."
Jim Towse, Cody's father, said the day was "perfect in every way."
"I don't know how anyone could go through this without the support we've had," he said. "I don't know what's going to happen after everybody goes away. (The support) has helped us get through this."
Jim Towse said soldiers who are still fighting need to be shown respect and be remembered.
"We need a turnout like this for every soldier's return, whether he's killed in action or he comes home alive," he said.
Loree said Cody Towse used to talk to him about leaving his mark on history.
"Unfortunately, it turned out this way," he said. "But in the path that he took to get there, he made a difference in a lot of people's lives."
Cousin Stefanie Grassley read one of Cody Towse's Facebook posts one week before he was killed that said, "I feel like Afghanistan is becoming another forgotten war. We lost five men a few days ago, and I can't stand that most people never even hear of it."
Grassley said her cousin will be remembered as a ladies man, the "Berlin Wall of comedy" and for how often he accidentally hurt himself. She said Cody never cried unless it was fake to make someone laugh.
He was tough, too, described by his father as a cat with nine lives. Grassley said Cody had survived a near drowning experience, a 19-foot fall, being in a coma after a long-boarding accident and multiple arm breaks.
"Joking was the easiest and most fun way to communicate with him," she said.
Brig. Gen. John Charlton said Spc. Towse served in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan and described his position as one that requires a "special breed of soldiers."
"Not only do they brave the same dangers as their fellow soldiers, but they are prepared to do whatever is necessary to help one of their fallen comrades, even if it means risking their own lives," he said.
Charlton said medics are referred to as "Doc," which is a time-honored term in the Army.
"(Doc is) the one soldier they can count on to be there," he said.
Cody Towse was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Medical Badge, and his family was given the Gold Star.
Gov. Gary Herbert spoke during the service and expressed the condolences of the nearly 3 million people in Utah. He said heroes are hard to define, but "Pvt. 1st Class Towse was a hero" as a medic and a soldier.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah also spoke and tearfully thanked the Towse family for their son and his sacrifice.
Chaffetz said there needs to be more people like Towse, someone people can "really look up to and at some point in their life recognize what a hero really looks like."
The family has set up The Cody Towse Memorial Scholarship Fund in his honor.
Email: eeagar@deseretnews.com